Madras High Court closes suo motu case against former T.N. Minister Ponmudy’s derogatory speech

The Madras High Court, on Tuesday (September 16, 2025), closed a suo motu writ petition taken up by it in April against a derogatory speech delivered by former Minister K. Ponmudy against Saivites, Vaishnavites and women in general. It took note that the police had already received over 100 complaints against him but closed all of them after not finding a prima facie case to register a First Information Report (FIR).

Justice N. Sathish Kumar granted liberty to the complainants to approach the jurisdictional magistrates challenging the closure reports served on them by the police. He also said, the former Minister ought not to have made such speeches even though he claimed to have only recalled what was already said by someone else in the 1970s. It does not behove well for people holding high positions to make such speeches, the judge added.

The orders were passed after Advocate General P.S. Raman brought it to the notice of the court that Justice N. Anand Venkatesh of the High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the issue after the speech made by the then Forest Minister went viral on social media. The speech was delivered at an event organised by Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam in Chennai on April 8.

Mr. Ponmudy had resigned from the Cabinet on April 27 after Justice Venkatesh took suo motu cognisance of the speech on April 23, 2025 and wrote: “These comments (by the then Minister), on the face of it, are completely derogatory of women and deliberately spew venom and hatred on the two main sects of Hinduism viz., Saivism and Vaishnavism.”

The judge also wrote: “The Minister had admitted to making these derogatory comments and had, in fact, been removed from the post of Deputy General Secretary of DMK. Still, the police machinery, which is tasked with the job of tackling hate speech, lies motionless... The continued inaction and hesitation of the police in registering an FIR for hate speech against a Minister is most distressing and unfortunate.”

Stating that the suo motu writ petition was taken up by the court for supposed police inaction, the A-G told Justice Kumar that the police had indeed received over 100 complaints and that all of them were closed after due intimation to the complainants. He also said, the former Minister had only recalled what was already spoken in the past and therefore, it would not fall under the category of hate speech.

The A-G stated that the complainants were not remediless and that they could always challenge the police action before the judicial magistrates concerned.